Crust Lust,
I don't think you need any help. Your pizzas look great. It also looks like you have been able to handle the high dough hydration without having the dough stick to the peel.
Since you used the top oven rack position, do you have any photos of the bottom of the crust or can explain the characteristics of the bottom crust in terms of color, crispiness, chewiness, etc.? Also, did you use the broiler element?
Peter
Did not have the presence of mind to take pics of the crust bottom. I was pleased with the amount of oven spring I got. I have tried stretching the ferment time to as much as nine or ten days with the same recipe and found only a fraction of the same oven spring. With the above factors, I'd say anywhere between 1-4 days in the fridge is a good ferment time. The "slice profile" pic shows the oven spring well. You can also see a bit of brown spots from the side - indicative of a crisp slice. I don't like it to be flaccid or doughy. I'd say just about all the pieces from this batch of pies were crispy enough to be held by the crust end without drooping.
I didn't need so much cheese on the pepperoni here, because of the added grease of the pepperoni. The vegan crust was overdone. I think the lack of cheese makes it cook a bit faster. I'll have to remember that in the future. Sometimes the pies were too light in color - but that was from using too much bench flour which obscured my perception of crust doneness. The cheese pizza's crust was a tad burned on one edge, but the bottom overall had a pleasant amount of char.
When I got a request for a cheese pizza and the results were gobbled up, it reminded me of how sensitive pizza can be to overtopping. The less is more aesthetic is often right. But I still love a pizza with the works and everything in between when done right.
Since I'm using KABF, and no oil in the dough, the slices are chewy but not doughy, crisp but not cracker-like.
No, I didn't use the broiler for a final browning of the top. I've been fairly pleased with the rate of crust cookage to top doneness. I've found that having the cheese, toppings and sauce at room temperature helps a lot to insure a balanced rate of bake. I used to nuke my veggies a bit to extrude some excess water - as I had found in the past that pooling of water on the top could be a problem with a veggie pie. Now I simply make sure to fully dry the veggies with a paper towell (after having washed them) and am careful to slice them thinly. These two factors, along with maxing my oven temperature has usually resulted in evaporation of any excess water. I do still have occaissional problems with gumminess on the top resulting from the toppings coming into contact with the dough surface. But I love the Francesco Rinaldi spaghetti sauce I use; it doesn't need to be drained and it's often only $1.50 per jar at the local supermarket, and it tastes great. Makes no sense to use a sauce twice as expensive that needs to be drained because it's more liquidy.
